Transcript

00:00:01

>> In recent months, there's been a major increase in the number of Venezuelan parents giving up their children, due to the economic crisis here. My name's Girish Gupta, and I've reported on this story from Punto Fijo, in the west of the country, and here in Caracas, for Reuters.

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I visited the house of Sulai, she's in her 40s and a mother. She told me how back in October, she decided to hand over care of her daughter, six-year-old daughter, to a neighbor. She wasn't able to look after her, not able to feed her, she says. The entire family lives off the grandfather's pension, that's the equivalent of just $6 a month.

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There's been an uptick, according to media reports at least, of parents simply abandoning their children in parks, in hospitals, or in public squares. This country is undergoing a major economic crisis. It doesn't look like anything's gonna get better anytime soon. A lot of people are living on tens of dollars every month.

00:00:52

Queues at supermarkets are in the hundreds, if not thousands. Millions of people say they're skipping meals every day. Sulai's daughter, at least, is eating better and speaking better, though she is calling somebody else mom.